if Lambert had stayed and we had continued our gung ho style of play, i am fairly certain we would now be in deep doo doo, possibly even below QPR. that is probably the main reason Lambert left, he expected a far harder time this season. what CH has done for us is to start our transition into a decent Premier team, but it is still only a start and will take a while yet to complete. have faith fellow canary fans. OTBC.
funny you mention fulham. we just weren't inventive enough to break down a team who came for a 0-0 and who defended superbly. ultimately, fulham are a club who we should be aspiring to emulate. they can play negative if need be - its one of the strings to their bow, and a big reason why they are able to keep their place in this league. we NEED to be able to play that way if we want to remain part of the furniture in this league.
It's a site problem that Mick is trying to rectify! Please don't stop posting Supers, I, for one, enjoy your knowledge of the club, you're not always right, but you are right a hell of a lot more than you're wrong!
Fair enough. I just thought we were equally as negative as Fulham in that game and it seemed they were there for the taking. As you said though, Fulham defended excellently, but so did we.
don't get me wrong, we weren't ambitious enough in that game, at least, not until the final ten minutes, but you require more than just 'two up front' to break down a defence like that. you need invention and we had none on the pitch that day. fulham were 'there for the taking'... well no, no they weren't. they were organised and disciplined and like a brick wall. they came for a 0-0 and got it. as far as i'm concerned we are still five good signings away from being a certain mid-table finisher next season. that's a lot of players! but that's what the summer is for and hughton's record in the market so far has been as good as, if not better than his predecessor.
kind of you to say dave, but i'm afraid there are a few reasons why i won't be around as much. as i've said before, the only negative thing about our club is a section of the fans but the mind-numbing negativity is not the sole reason for not posting
Couldn't agree more. Part of the reason why I joined this forum was because some people seem rather unappreciative and negative.
I think we would miss Hughton. I know some of the football hasn't been the most exciting, but you have to look at the bigger picture. If we survive this season, and I'm certain we will, there is great potential for improvement of the squad. And with Hughton at the helm we would have a great manager plus a key element, stability.
Either way, I do think Hughton is here for the long run, whether people like it or not. Obviously if results are horrendous than he'll be sacked but I can't see that happening under him for a while. Plus I think it'll be interesting to see how he does in the long run for a team, he wasn't at Newcastle or Birmingham for that long, so has never really build his own squad full of his own players. I thought even if we had been relegated this season Hughton would still be our manager, and I was sort of expecting us to go down this year. I do think we will stay up this year either way, which I personally think is one hell of an achievement.
Excellent response, Superman, and this is from someone who is often critical of Hughton in the heat of the moment immediately after matches for being too negative and for not inspiring the players enough. But I still recognise what a great job he is doing and I would want him to stay even if we got relegated. I think he's by far the best option for us at the moment. I also think his record of new signings has been very good (basically all a success except for the loan Kane, who suffered a long injury). He does seem to big up the opposition a lot, but, as you point out, the important thing is what he says and transmits to the players behind closed doors, not what he says in public.
Hughton doesn't play negative football. He plays a more balanced style to our previous manager and it will keep us in this league. Our previous management are probably going to take their team down with their style of football.
Could'nt agree more with everything you've said supers. When Hughton first came in I was worried that we were really going to struggle this season and yet he has built the most solid Norwich team that I have seen (im only 23), i dont mind boring games as long as they render results (Mourinho at Chelsea!). Overall im very happy with everything Hughton has done since he came here. Last seasons defence was far from premiership quality and he knew that when he came here, so in my mind it is obvious that this was the main area he has addressed in the team this year. He brought in a workhorse in midfield (Tettey) and is getting far better performances from Johnson than Lambert got last year. He has alos bought in a bit of flair and a midfield goal threat (Snodgrass). I agree with his tactics for most games we should set up in a concervative manner, but i also think he will be a bit more attacking in future towards some of the teams lower down in the league, maybe he hasnt done this before because he didnt fell he had the right personel. The only thing i could criticise Hughton for this season would be the timing of substitutions throughout the season which have come too late to make an impact in most games, however it was good to see Kamara come on early in the second half and turn the game for us against Everton, so maybe he has learned his lesson or found players he trusts to come on and have an impact? But I am very happy with him, and i look forward to seeing what he can do with the team and who he might look to bring in to push us on for next season!
@superman Exactly right. I posted at the start of the season that if CH kept us in this league it would be an achievement to match anything that Paul Lambert did for us. Well, he's almost done it, and the odds are that he will. He can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear. The board gave him only one objective for the season "Keep us in the Premiership", and he is delivering. Trying to draw general conclusions from this season about "Hughton's teams" or "Hughton's style of play" etc. is simply ludicrous. People can hold any opinion they want, but they shouldn't expect everybody else to take them seriously.
Excellen post robbie and whilst I have moaned in the past about some of the 'better not to lose than to win' tactics, I'm very pleased with our points total and league position.
How true this is. And I hold my hand up for being one of the people who have said (though maybe not in so many words) 'how refreshing Lambert's cavalier, win 4 - 3 attitude was'. That may be true, but Hughton's total remit was to survive. If he does so, next season will be a much fairer opportunity to assess his squad of players and his perceived 'style of play'.
"Trying to draw general conclusions from this season about "Hughton's teams" or "Hughton's style of play" etc. is simply ludicrous." Can anyone explain this comment as I haven't the foggiest idea why it is ludicrous to draw any conclusions to his style of play. Is there a point when it is no longer ludicrous but just plain silly, when are we allowed to draw these conclusions and can you inform the rest of us please. After all, we don't want to getting any wrong ideas now do we.
